In the food industry there is a constant demand for the production of additives, whether naturally occurring or synthetic, which are capable of imparting, supplementing or improving the flavor or mouthfeel characteristics of the foodstuffs. It is common in some segments of the industry to add flavor agents to enhance or bring out a desirable characteristic in products and by so doing, render the product more desirable from a consumer preference standpoint.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,395,021 issued to Glicksman et al. teaches a dry fruit flavor beverage mix containing edible acids such as citric, tartaric, adipic, and formic acids. These acids in combination with a gum system produce a product which is similar in flavor and mouthfeel to a fresh fruit beverage. The acids provide tartness in the reconstituted beverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,150 entitled "Beverage Containing Egg Albumen and Amino Acid" issued to Basso et al. teaches the addition of egg albumen and an amino acid (glycine) to a dry beverage mix, where the egg albumen and glycine are present as the major sources of protein. The glycine also serves an additional function as a flavor enhancer, masking the objectionable egg odor and taste, resulting in a product that is substantially indistinguishable from a similar beverage with all the protein omitted.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,298 entitled "Carbonation Concentrates For Beverages and Process of Producing Carbonated Beverages" issued to Kreevoy teaches a dry beverage mix containing n-carboxy-amino acid anhydride in combination with the disodium salts of n-carboxy-amino acid producing a carbonated beverage mix.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,510,310 entitled "Artifically Sweetened Beverages and Mixtures Thereof" issued to Breckwoldt teaches a dry beverage mix comprising an edible water-soluble amino carboxylic acid (e.g. glycine, lysine, methionine, etc.). This mix is reconstituted to provide a beverage having a taste and texture similar to the beverage sweetened with sugar. This invention purports to solve the adverse problem associated with artificially sweetened beverages in overcoming the lack of texture and mouthfeel that is inherent in such a beverage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,259 entitled "Process of Preparing Nutritive Sweetening Compositions" issued to Lugay et al. teaches a process for improving the solubility and stability of dipeptide nutritive sweeteners comprising co-drying an amino acid derived nutritive sweetener with a low molecular weight polypeptide, preferably an enzymatically hydrolyzed non-gelatin protein, wherein the ratio of sweetener to polypeptide is from about 1:1 to about 1:20.
On analysis, fruit juices, in particular orange juices are known to contain as much as 9% proteinaceous materials on a dry weight total solids basis. The individual amino acids themselves are sweet, sour, bitter or bland. The prior art neither teaches nor appreciates that either amino acids, peptides or polypeptides are important flavor contributors to fruit juices, or the possibility that they could be utilized to produce an enhanced flavor impact and an improved mouthfeel character in a fruit-flavored dry beverage mix at a low level of incorporation.
The commonly-assigned U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 435,162 filed on Oct. 19, 1982 which is entitled Amino Acids as Dry Beverage Mix Ingredients in the name of Schenz teaches a method of producing an enhanced flavor impact and an improved mouthfeel character in a dry beverage mix comprising the addition of amino acids. The specific amino acids which produce the effect were 1-proline, 1-asparagine, 1-aspartic acid, 1-arginine, .gamma.-amino-n-butyric acid, 1-alanine, 1-glutamine and combinations thereof. The level of incorporation of the amino acids in a dry mix varies from 0.1% to 8% on a dry weight basis. When reconstituted with water the level of amino acids commonly varies from 0.1 to 8 grams per liter on an as-consumed basis.
There has been a constant demand in the food art for the production of a formulated beverage, whether it be a dry beverage mix, ready-to-drink beverage or beverage concentrate which would contain a flavor and mouthfeel more akin to a real fruit juice.